Annie Rachele Lanzillotto reads from Whaddyacall the Wind? (Bordighera Press, 2022)

The ebullient writer and performance artist Annie Lanzillotto presents her latest publication, in which she invites readers to join her on a poetic journey to learn what it is to feel “like an errant puzzle piece … never to be found, never to be put into place.” In this written adventure Lanzillotto connects with the gay community in Italy, hangs out with living cousins in the cemetery of her ancestral town Acquaviva delle Fonti, argues with the Commedia dell’arte character Pulcinella, concocts a tale of a Madonna painting’s sojourn to Italy, and asks: “What position do you want to be in for l’eternità?”

“This tale about ancestors, spiritual renewal, and a region of Italy that is both ancient and magical enfolds you like a mother. Lanzillotto is a master storyteller who will charm you as easily as her female progenitors wove spells and created legends that still captivate today.”

—Marianne Leone, author of Jesse and Ma Speaks Up

Discussion led by Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University.